Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros Device 0042 (rev 30)

English Hardware
1

Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros Device 0042 (rev 30)
this device is not supported in tumbleweed.

This network controller has been going into some pc models from Lenovo, HP and Acer since March 2015… Is there any possibility of kernel patches, firmware updates or other being provided in Tumbleweed or Leap? since there is a claim that modern hardware should be compatible with Leap…???
in one of my machines:

# lspci -k | grep -iA2 net02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
        Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device 098a
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
--
03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros Device 0042 (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e09a
        Kernel modules: wl

and

# rfkill list0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

I’ve resorted to using an external usb wireless adapter in the hope that an update might solve the problem, but the wait is proving very long

2

Is it supported by the Linux kernel at all? What’s the Device ID? Can you match it in the following list? https://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_Wi-Fi_Device_IDs_in_Linux

3

PCI_168c_0042
it’s not on the list which incidentally only goes up to kernel 4.3-rc1, but the kernel’s already got 4.3-rc7
…BUT the PCI_168c_0041 is though. However, some gamers using Ubuntu got it working because some guys at Ubuntu created backports and patches
SEE Bug #1436940 “Qualcomm Atheros QCA6164 802.11ac Wireless Network...” : Bugs : linux package : Ubuntu
I found firmware for it on the Github but I understand that it only works if the kernel is patched to accept it? something like that

4

As far as I understand that’s exactly right, the Wi-Fi is usually loaded as a kernel module, if the kernel doesn’t know how to handle the device, the driver won’t work. I had the same problem with the 3.16 kernel and my Wireless card. I had the drivers installed on the proper destination but the kernel didn’t added the support for it until V4, so basically it was doing nothing until I upgraded my kernel to v4.2.

I’m quite new on openSUSE so correct me if I’m wrong but as far as I know right now the kernel is delivered as is, so you’d need a newer version of the kernel for it to work

EDIT: I see the kernel module is basically the same I got for my card (ath10k), what’s the recommended kernel version for your card? basically I think that’s the problem. If it’s on the RC for v4.3 kernel, you’d need either to install the unstable version or wait for the stable v4.3 kernel to be released

5

Post:

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net
6

ok

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15)
        Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:098a]
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel modules: r8169
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0042] (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e09a]
        Kernel modules: wl
04:00.0 3D controller [0302]: NVIDIA Corporation GM108M [GeForce 940M] [10de:1347] (rev ff)
7

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0042] (rev 30)
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e09a]
Kernel modules: wl

It is not supported by the Kernel.

As I said in September to you.
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/509826-wireless-new-laptop-Acer-e-15?p=2729357#post2729357

8

true, a fact but not a solution…
please see my second message in this thread with respect to those who have, unfortunately on opeSUSE I cannot take advantage of Ubuntu backports to patch the kernel. So what now?

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By the way, please note, I started this post as a hopeful response to reading this on the Leap Portal:

Common questionsQ. Will openSUSE Leap work with newer computers?
Yes - the first release of openSUSE Leap, openSUSE Leap 42.1, will ship with version 4.1 of the Linux Kernel which should provide very modern hardware support

My ‘modern hardware’, fabricated by a prominent market shareholders (Acer and Qualcomm), has been in the marketplace for more than 8 months now :wink:

10

And that has nothing to do with openSUSE, your Wlan_Device is not supported by the kernel.

true, a fact but not a solution…
please see my second message in this thread with respect to those who have, unfortunately on opeSUSE I cannot take advantage of Ubuntu backports to patch the kernel. So what now?

In that Ubuntu it is an

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0041]

which is supported by the Kernel-Modul ath10k which will be in Kernel 4.3:
https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATH10K.html

Your Wlan is:

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0042] (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e09a]
        Kernel modules: wl

That seems to be an Broadcom Chip, and not Atheros…

So no Solution…

Buy an cheap USB-Wlan-Device…

11

how do you deduct that? in Windows *.1 (where it is supported) it is identified as a Qualcomm/Atheros chip and on the Acer site it is cited as such in the specification…

So no Solution.......

:\ only for now I hope, although it looks like it could be a long wait

Buy an cheap USB-Wlan-Device..........

I’ve got one, but as you know, it is not so good at maintaining the signal and hogs one of my USB ports which I need for other devices

thanks anyway Sauerland

12

how do you deduct that? in Windows *.1 (where it is supported) it is identified as a Qualcomm/Atheros chip and on the Acer site it is cited as such in the specification…

You know, that it is only for interrest, what Chip is build in, not what is written on it.
I have searched for the ID in the net and the few threads I found are saying that it seems to be an Bropadcom-Chip.
I do not konw, if it is a Broadcom-Chip so I have said:

That seems to be an Broadcom Chip, and not Atheros…

And if I look at the Driver of your Post:

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0042] (rev 30)
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e09a]
Kernel modules: wl

You have installed Broadcom-wl and that Driver is avaible. But if it is the right one? I do not know.

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I see what you mean… OK. I might still be able to fix this, if I manage to I’ll post it up

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This issue has been ongoing for me. Here’'s the latest on it and I succeeded in getting the WIFI adapter to work.
Recent kernel updates have made detecting the adapter possible, although ath10k is reasonably well maintained in the repos, I still had problems but found a solution that worked here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/715037/no-wifi-on-acer-aspire-e5-573-on-any-linux-platform
I did the following:


wget https://github.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware/archive/master.zip
unzip master.zip
sudo cp -r ath10k-firmware-master/QCA9377 /lib/firmware/ath10k/
sudo mv /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA9377/hw1.0/firmware-5.bin_WLAN.TF.1.0-00267-1 /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA9377/hw1.0/firmware-5.bin

it worked perfectly after a reboot.

15

Yes it is there:

modinfo ath10k_pci
filename:       /lib/modules/4.4.4-1.g0c1f87e-default/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/ath10k_pci.ko
firmware:       ath10k/QCA9377/hw1.0/board.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA9377/hw1.0/firmware-5.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board-2.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-4.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board-2.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/firmware-5.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/firmware-4.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board-2.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-5.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-4.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-3.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-2.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware.bin
license:        Dual BSD/GPL
description:    Driver support for Atheros QCA988X PCIe devices
author:         Qualcomm Atheros
srcversion:     8CBDAC7980FC042032AE6A6
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000042sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000040sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000003Esv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000041sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000003Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        ath10k_core
intree:         Y
vermagic:       4.4.4-1.g0c1f87e-default SMP preempt mod_unload modversions 
signer:         Kernel OBS Project
sig_key:        1F:B4:15:12:AC:BC:8E:EB:DF:82:8D:87:7E:43:67:BF:6C:71:9A:F3
sig_hashalgo:   sha256
parm:           irq_mode:0: auto, 1: legacy, 2: msi (default: 0) (uint)
parm:           reset_mode:0: auto, 1: warm only (default: 0) (uint)

lkddb pci 168c 0042 .... .... ...... : CONFIG_ATH10K CONFIG_ATH10K_PCI CONFIG_ATH_CARDS CONFIG_WLAN : drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/pci.c # in 4.4
lkddb pci 168c 0042 .... .... ...... : CONFIG_ATH10K CONFIG_ATH10K_PCI CONFIG_WLAN CONFIG_WLAN_VENDOR_ATH : drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/pci.c # in 4.5-rc+HEAD

From:
https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATH10K_PCI.html